Favourite Biscuits?

[thestrangequark]

Yeah, they seem like a sconey, dumplingy type of thing. Sounds nice, though.

American biscuits are kind of like scones, but not quite. They're not sweet at all, and tend to be softer, flakier, and lighter than scones. I like these biscuits best with just butter, or even a bit of jam.

As for cookies, I like anything homemade, so long as it's warm and soft. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and snickerdoodles are my favorites.

What are called scones in Commonwealth countries so not have to be sweet. Scones can be either sweet or savoury.

As it is here, I think the biggest difference is the texture. Scones, whether sweet or savory, are more dense than American biscuits. Biscuits are flaky like a pie crust, but also soft and light like a light bread.

American biscuits are kind of like scones, but not quite. They're not sweet at all, and tend to be softer, flakier, and lighter than scones.

Ah, I see! Sounds tasty.

Oh, they are! You ought to find a recipe online and bake some. They're very easy to make, and are very good. Eat one while it's warm; break it open and put a tiny bit of butter and drizzle a little honey inside. YUM! If one is two or three days old and maybe getting a little hard, drop it into your chicken soup and let it soak up the broth -- an instant dumpling.

 

[USS Triumphant]

There isn't a British name for those - we don't eat them.

My Fellow Americans:

I read this, and though, "Surely that can't be completely right - after all, they do have Southern cuisine restaurants in London." So I poked around a bit, and got hold of a menu for a chain of takeaways in London called, simply enough, "Southern Fried Chicken". Plenty of "chicken burgers" on hamburger buns, but no southern biscuits!

So then I thought, well, KFC is in the U.K. - the Colonel won't let me down. But see for yourself - not a biscuit to be had!

This is an outrage. I'm going to be emailing their corporate offices. You can't serve a proper southern meal without biscuits!

 

[SiorX]

... last night I scarfed half a box of Jaffa Cakes.

It is physically impossible and I think against 'English Jaffa Cake eating Law' to eat less than 3 jaffa cakes in one go. And another 3, 5 mins later... repeat until feel guilt or nausea

At Christmas they bring out these special boxes which are, like, a yard of Jaffa Cakes. Have you seen them?

Whenever they show up in the shops I always think of the poor people who will sit down after dinner to have just one or two, and will rise an hour later with an empty box. This is why I do not buy them.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

... last night I scarfed half a box of Jaffa Cakes.

It is physically impossible and I think against 'English Jaffa Cake eating Law' to eat less than 3 jaffa cakes in one go. And another 3, 5 mins later... repeat until feel guilt or nausea

At Christmas they bring out these special boxes which are, like, a yard of Jaffa Cakes. Have you seen them?

Whenever they show up in the shops I always think of the poor people who will sit down after dinner to have just one or two, and will rise an hour later with an empty box. This is why I do not buy them.

'A yard of jaffa cakes', that would be too cruel to jest about.
No thankfully, have not seen them.
It's like those giant Toblerones in airports (never understood that? Emergency pressie on way home - I've just been to Thailand and I've bought you this mystical Toblerone...), but they're harder to eat whereas Jaffas just melt in your mouth and in a bizarre and evil way make you hungrier the more you eat

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Biscuits?

As long as the word is immediately followed by "and gravy", then I'm there.

No, these are biscuits that are preceded by the words "tea and"

Oh, you mean crackers? Ritz, then.

Cookies: Chips Ahoy.

My tastes are so pedestrian, they have to cross at the light.

 

[kimc]

I'm a classic chocolate chip gal.

 

[DanTheGrey]

Well, Imperial Cookies (Empire cookies...whatever you want to call them) are my absolute favourite and actually one of the times I like raspberry. Of course the almond icing and almond in the cookie is essential, as well as the cookie being as big or bigger than the palm of your hand.

After that would be my oatmeal coconut chocolate chip cookies, and then the chocolate & caramel chip cookies with pecans.

I don't buy pre-made cookies unless they're from a bakery or the in-store bakery at the local grocery store. Haven't for years, but good old Maple Leaf cookies are the only ones I'd even consider buying if I started getting them again

 

[Canadave]

Also: Do Canadians drop the "Canadian" from Canadian Bacon, and what word do they use for what most Americans call bacon?

To answer this question, we usually call Canadian bacon either back bacon or peameal bacon, you tend to hear both. The other kind of bacon we just call bacon.

 

[Spot's Meow]

What confusing terminology this thread is filled with. From both sides.

I would never have cookies with tea, they wouldn't taste good together. But as someone else mentioned, the tea I drink is already very sweet. Well, I really only drink hot tea when it is cold and I need to warm myself up, or when I am sick and I need it to clear my nasal passage. I drink iced tea in the summer. Either way, I don't eat cookies/crackers/biscuits/anything with it.

A lot of people dunk cookies in milk, but I don't like that very much.

When I read biscuits the first thing I think of is dog biscuits. I am kind of surprised that you don't have the Southern style biscuits over there...I guess you don't get the little Pillsbury doughboy showing you how biscuits rise in the oven. Aw he's so cute. I don't like the biscuits themselves much, but I use them for pigs in a blanket sometimes.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I would never have cookies with tea, they wouldn't taste good together. But as someone else mentioned, the tea I drink is already very sweet. Well, I really only drink hot tea when it is cold and I need to warm myself up, or when I am sick and I need it to clear my nasal passage. I drink iced tea in the summer. Either way, I don't eat cookies/crackers/biscuits/anything with it.

Australians do the Tim Tam Slam which is explained by Wikipedia as

The Tim Tam Slam is the practice of drinking a beverage by sucking it through a Tim Tam, an Australian chocolate-covered biscuit, with both of the ends bitten off.
Ideally, the inside of the biscuit should collapse but the outside should remain intact. Just before the biscuit falls apart, it is placed in the mouth. The thicker chocolate coating on the Double Coat Tim Tam offers a more stable structure to help ensure that the biscuit does not collapse prematurely - refrigerating them also helps to preserve the outside structure while allowing the inside of the biscuit to melt. The Chewy Caramel variety also has an advantage for performing the TimTam Slam since the caramel centre helps to hold the biscuit together for a slightly longer time.

It can be done with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Diagonal corners are bitten off.

 

[JuanBolio]

There isn't a British name for those - we don't eat them.

My Fellow Americans:

I read this, and though, "Surely that can't be completely right - after all, they do have Southern cuisine restaurants in London." So I poked around a bit, and got hold of a menu for a chain of takeaways in London called, simply enough, "Southern Fried Chicken". Plenty of "chicken burgers" on hamburger buns, but no southern biscuits!

So then I thought, well, KFC is in the U.K. - the Colonel won't let me down. But see for yourself - not a biscuit to be had!

This is an outrage. I'm going to be emailing their corporate offices. You can't serve a proper southern meal without biscuits!

That IS odd... their beans look wrong, too.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I would never have cookies with tea, they wouldn't taste good together. But as someone else mentioned, the tea I drink is already very sweet. Well, I really only drink hot tea when it is cold and I need to warm myself up, or when I am sick and I need it to clear my nasal passage. I drink iced tea in the summer. Either way, I don't eat cookies/crackers/biscuits/anything with it.

Australians do the Tim Tam Slam which is explained by Wikipedia as

The Tim Tam Slam is the practice of drinking a beverage by sucking it through a Tim Tam, an Australian chocolate-covered biscuit, with both of the ends bitten off.
Ideally, the inside of the biscuit should collapse but the outside should remain intact. Just before the biscuit falls apart, it is placed in the mouth. The thicker chocolate coating on the Double Coat Tim Tam offers a more stable structure to help ensure that the biscuit does not collapse prematurely - refrigerating them also helps to preserve the outside structure while allowing the inside of the biscuit to melt. The Chewy Caramel variety also has an advantage for performing the TimTam Slam since the caramel centre helps to hold the biscuit together for a slightly longer time.

It can be done with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Diagonal corners are bitten off.

That is so interesting! I can see doing that with hot chocolate or coffee.

However, tea doesn't really go well with any foods, in my opinion. It just doesn't have the right taste to eat anything dipped in it.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I'm American, and am shocked at the lack of southern style biscuits for our UK friends. something must be done, surely.

that said, I'm very curious as to what foods Americans know nothing about......

also, is there country fried steak in the UK? another southern American food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_fried_steak

 

[RobertVA]

There isn't a British name for those - we don't eat them.

My Fellow Americans:

I read this, and though, "Surely that can't be completely right - after all, they do have Southern cuisine restaurants in London." So I poked around a bit, and got hold of a menu for a chain of takeaways in London called, simply enough, "Southern Fried Chicken". Plenty of "chicken burgers" on hamburger buns, but no southern biscuits!

So then I thought, well, KFC is in the U.K. - the Colonel won't let me down. But see for yourself - not a biscuit to be had!

This is an outrage. I'm going to be emailing their corporate offices. You can't serve a proper southern meal without biscuits!

They aren't offering the same "chips" (although I'm not sure the name would still quite apply). In America the fried potatoes are thicker and have a batter coating (but thinner than the breading on the chicken). Another side option is mashed potatoes to pour that gravy over. It's a little odd that the UK stores have gravy, as many Americans would prefer that gravy on mashed potatoes or possibly what we call a biscuit (although proper gravy for biscuits would have bits of sausage mixed into it). Gravy might be for breaded beef patties (called country fried steak) or a boneless chicken breast (good with rice and gravy), but would be to messy picking up a piece of fried chicken with a coating of gravy.dripping of

 

[SiorX]

The Tim Tam Slam is the practice of drinking a beverage by sucking it through a Tim Tam, an Australian chocolate-covered biscuit, with both of the ends bitten off.
Ideally, the inside of the biscuit should collapse but the outside should remain intact. Just before the biscuit falls apart, it is placed in the mouth. The thicker chocolate coating on the Double Coat Tim Tam offers a more stable structure to help ensure that the biscuit does not collapse prematurely - refrigerating them also helps to preserve the outside structure while allowing the inside of the biscuit to melt. The Chewy Caramel variety also has an advantage for performing the TimTam Slam since the caramel centre helps to hold the biscuit together for a slightly longer time.

It can be done with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Diagonal corners are bitten off.

Ooh! We do that with Penguin Bars. Delicious.

That is so interesting! I can see doing that with hot chocolate or coffee.

However, tea doesn't really go well with any foods, in my opinion. It just doesn't have the right taste to eat anything dipped in it.

Do you put milk in your tea? Cause I reckon it needs to be milky tea for it to work.

 

[Jadzia]

So then I thought, well, KFC is in the U.K. - the Colonel won't let me down. But see for yourself - not a biscuit to be had!

This is an outrage. I'm going to be emailing their corporate offices. You can't serve a proper southern meal without biscuits!

That IS odd... their beans look wrong, too.

Do you have any foods in the US marketed as 'english style'. Cuz I'd be interested to see just how americanized they are.

I'm imagining,
yorkshire pudding... made with cinnamon sugar and corn syrup
cornish pasties... made with jelly beans
lincolnshire hotpot... made with corn dogs and mustard

But in fairness,
I wanna waldorf salad... I'm afraid we're all out of waldorfs.

 

[An Officer]

My palate has changed, and I don't enjoy biscuits/cookies anymore... but when I still enjoyed them as a kid, my favourites were:
Rich tea - dunked in tea
Fig rolls
Jammy dodgers
Maryland - dunked in tea
They often used to make up my entire dinner.
Ask me about puddings though, and we could be here all day.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

My favorite is the Garibaldi -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garibaldi_biscuit -- apparently created by the unifier of Italy when he accidentally sat on an Eccles cake during a visit to Tyneside. Popularly known to children as the "squashed-fly" biscuit.

Following a legal ruling, the Jaffa Cake is now classified as a cake, and not a biscuit -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cake. Never been fond of them myself.

 

[Franklin]

... last night I scarfed half a box of Jaffa Cakes.

It is physically impossible and I think against 'English Jaffa Cake eating Law' to eat less than 3 jaffa cakes in one go. And another 3, 5 mins later... repeat until feel guilt or nausea

Yes! Jaffa Cakes! All bow down to the Jaffa Cakes.

I like Penguins, too.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Coconut Macaroons
Girl Scout Thin Mints
Oreos
Oatmeal Raisin